The Dragon, The Tiger, The Wolf
by Aurora DeLeon
Summary: Three months ago, there was an accident. A weapon was killed, leaving their meister behind. Now that meister has returned to the DWMA to find a new partner. A split forms between brothers as the mysteries around this meister grow, and even her old friends seem wary of her. OC
1. Chapter 1

It may get confusing for some people so I'll explain the way I've written the dialogue. "Most characters talk like this," and 'think like this'. _Aria's actions, dialogue, and thoughts are in italics._ Ryu's are underlined. **Ren's are bolded. **This is my first story outside of my friends and teachers, so constructive criticism is appreciated. The weird dialogue thing is because of my creative writing teacher.

*Two people sit around a short table in the center of a platform. This is in the Death Room, where the principal of the Death Weapon Meister Academy (DWMA/ Shibusen), Shinigami-sama, usually stayed. Tombstones stretch on endlessly beyond the edge of the floor, blending with the bright blue sky above it. The fluffy, white clouds circle the walls as they would outside, occasionally disappearing behind the high windows.*

A man in his late-twenties, or early thirties, sits to the left of the table, occasionally glancing at the large mirror a few feet away. His hair is shoulder-length and bright red, which contrasts with his blue-green eyes. He wears a basic black suit blazer, black dress slacks, an olive-green button down (which remains tucked in), a black leather belt with a silver buckle, and dress shoes. His name is Spirit, Shinigami's current Deathscythe(the only one posted at Shibusen), and part-time teacher at the DWMA .

Across the low table is a girl. She looks to be about 15 years old, with waist-length, light blue hair and emerald eyes. She wears jeans, a light orange T-shirt with a paler, winged wolf sitting in the foreground, and a black coat with serpents on it. This girl is Aurora, though she insists that everyone call her Aria. She was a student of Shibusen, as a meister, until she disappeared three months before, after an accident during her last mission.

Spirit's baritone voice speaks first, asking seemingly random questions. Aria's voice is a high mezzo-soprano, making it slightly higher than average. She speaks between the questions, quite apathetically, answering the never-ending list. She didn't have to go through this the first time, as she had met her perfect match before entering the school.

"Do you prefer sharp or blunt edged weapons?" _Sharp._ "How about heavy or light?"_ Preferably light._ "Okay, now long or short?"_ Long is best, but I'm good with short as well. "_You're very vague, you know that." _..._ *Sighs* "Single-handed or double-handed?"_ Single._ "What happened to the long answers?" _ ... I would appreciate it if you stayed on topic._ *_glowers_* "You're no fun." *pouts* "Single or double weapons?"_ I use two for daggers, katana, and the like; Only one for things like scythes, spears, and kwan daos. I'm not too good with anything but swords though. I don't wish to learn a completely new fighting style._ "You'll have to bring the extra swords you know." _I am aware of this._

"Okay! I found a good partner for you, two actually. They're both tool-weapons, like Tsubaki. Let's see . . . they can become twin swords, twin daggers, and claws (for some strange reason), but I think they didn't tell us everything. Actually, they didn't talk at all, they just showed us by transforming. They're pretty anti-social; they haven't made any friends, but they've been here for months. The two haven't really opened up to anyone. They haven't directly told us, not even their names, and prefer transforming into fang-necklaces to meeting anyone. They're quite unusual in that they have a non-weapon transformation. You've been gone a while since . . . that incident, but you haven't changed much, so they'll be compatible with you. Your wavelengths are all extremely similar. We're hoping that your personality can draw them out of their shells. I'd have to meet them first." _Call them in._ "Right." *turns towards the door* "Oy! Ren! Ryu! Get in here."

*Two boys enter the room* They are almost completely identical; only a very perceptive person would be able to tell them apart. Aurora is one such person; with her heightened senses, she could discern small differences in the teens. Both have short, brown hair and hazel eyes. The one pointed out as Ren has slightly darker hair, and his eyes show flecks of green. He has a protective air around him, and stands a few inches in front of his brother; Aurora assumes he is the older of the two. Ryu has tan streaks through his hair, and blue-flecked eyes. He is more relaxed than his brother, and is more curious than defensive.

**What do you want, Spirit?** Ren speaks first, leaving no doubt that he doesn't want to be here. He really doesn't; this would be the fifth partner this month Spirit had tried to pair them with. Meanwhile Ryu is hesitantly trying to speak with Aurora. Um . . . Are you Aurora? M-My name i-is R-Ryu. _Hello Ryu. You don't have to be so nervous, I don't bite, much._ Aurora grins as she says the last part, showing her fangs. _You can call me Aria, it's shorter and I'm more accustomed to it._ Ryu felt relieved, this Auro- no Aria, seems really nice. He is pretty shy around strangers. That's my brother Ren, he says, pointing to their left where Ren and Spirit have started fighting. _He seems like a fun guy. Reminds me of a few of my we should break them up?_ Ryu nods once and starts walking over to the quarreling Weapons.

After a few minutes, they are all sitting around the small table; Ren and Ryu closest to the door, with Spirit sitting opposite them, and Aria to the side. Ryu looks uncomfortable next to his brother, who is having a staring contest with Spirit; you can practically see lightning darting between them. Aria smiles at him, and tries to start a conversation to help him settle. _Did you know I'm part wolf?_ That can't be true. _You can turn into a weapon can't you? It's kind of like that. My 'wolfness' helps to tell you two apart even when I can't see you well._ How? _I can smell you. You smell like fresh air and grass, like spring, while your brother Ren smells like strawberries._ Ryu snickers a little, and glances at his brother.

Aria and Ryu continue to talk as the other two argue over something trivial. Last she'd checked it was about a stain on the table. Both seemed to think the other made it. Aria learned a bit more about the brothers: they were orphans, had rented an apartment nearby, didn't have any friends really, and both were working: Ren at a small café and Ryu at the ice cream shop down the street.

Ryu discovered a few interesting things about Aria too: her family didn't exist in this dimension (He decided to take that to mean dead; she told him it was close enough.); she was part wolf; she owned a three-bedroom, two-and-a-half bathroom house (yet she didn't use it much); she was pretty much friendly to everyone (she was picky about who she called a friend though); and she was a pet-sitter as well as a worker at the local pet shop. He had asked what Spirit meant by "incident", but she adamantly refused to talk about it.

It only takes a few more minutes for Ren and Spirit to calm down. "Well? Have you decided whether you want to have a trial partnership with them?" Of course, now he is acting like the fight had never happened. Aria briefly toys with the idea of asking a psychologist if he is bipolar or has multiple personalities; she immediately throws the idea out, thinking of how confused the poor doctor would be. _Yes, I have. If they agree, I would like to have them as my partners._ I want to try it. Ren stares at his brother in surprise; Ryu rarely ever speaks up about something. He wonders exactly what he'd missed while he was arguing, but he bets it had something to do with their conversation.** I'm interested to see how this goes. Ryu never opens up this quickly to anyone. I'm in.** "Okay then, I'll just report this to Shinigami. You three can go now." **_Finally!_** Aria and Ren look at each other; they were both thinking of how well they would get along.


	2. Chapter 2

Sorry about the minor wait; I, for the life of me, could not figure out how to set up new chapters. This problem is solved now.

Chapter 2: The Front Stairs of Shibusen

A group of teens sits at the top of the stairs in front of the school staring at the hundred or so other stairs below them. An albino boy with shark teeth argues lazily with his partner, an ash-blonde girl with long pigtails and forest green eyes. A few feet away a electric blue-haired boy wearing ninja-styled clothes is shouting about how much of a big star he is, while his long, ebony haired partner tries to calm him down. A little further along a boy completely dressed in black and white dress clothes with two-toned yellow eyes is jumping up and down in front of his partners, the Thompson sisters, yelling about symmetry. The sisters are wearing cowgirl styled clothes, and seem to be used to the boy's rants. The younger sibling is laughing maniacally, while the elder sister has a bored expression on her face.

The albino is Soul "Eater" Evans, the resident "cool" guy. His partner is Maka, the smartest out of all the students at Shibusen. The two ninjas are BlackStar and Tsubaki, and both are trained in the art of assassination, though BlackStar's personality usually ruins their stealthy approaches. The last boy, who has finally stopped yelling, is Death the Kid, Shinigami's son and a young reaper. The almost-twin sisters are Patty (Patricia), the younger girl, and Liz (Elizabeth), the older sibling. All of them jump up upon Patty's yell of "'Ria!"

Aria and her new partners are just leaving when they hear a shout. Aria's wolf ears perk up from under her hair where she had hid them, while her tail sticks straight out from underneath her coat, which was its hiding place. Ren and Ryu stop to stare at the new appendages.** I guess she wasn't lying.** Ryu can only nod in agreement with his brother. Then, they notice who Aria is talking with. The twins had met the other students, but it hadn't gone too well the last time they'd met.

Soul and BlackStar had cornered Ryu, asking why he wouldn't talk to anyone. They were quite aggressive about it, which had caused Ryu's body to go into something akin to shock. Ren walked around the corner and found them immediately attacking the other two for scaring his brother. A fight broke out when their friends showed up and the brothers were outnumbered. They had all gotten detention for fighting without a teacher present, and some of them, mainly the brothers, Soul, and BlackStar, still held a grudge.

It takes Aria a moment to notice her partners' reluctance. She looks back and forth between the groups in confusion. She doesn't know about the incident, as it had occurred while she was away. _Come over here you guys. Why're you hanging back?_ **We don't get along too well with them.** _Why not?_ **They were picking on Ryu, and we ended up in detention.** _And you won't come over here why?_ **I just told you why!** _Your reasoning isn't good enough. That was then, this is now._

Ryu takes a few steps further, wanting to stand with Aria. Ren looks on surprised. This is not just a rarity; Ryu never takes to people like this. He decides to see where this will lead, and starts walking the last few feet to their Meister. Ryu sighs in relief and falls in step behind his brother. Aria smiles and nods. _Better._

_These two are my new partners._ Her ears flick back in annoyance as her friends yell. "What do you mean THEY'RE your partners!" comes from Maka and Soul. "Those little stars aren't deserving of someone who can match me!" That was BlackStar, and his out-burst is extremely shocking; BlackStar has only admitted to two people being stronger than him, Death the Kid and Aria (who could barely manage it _with_ her old partner, and synchronizing their souls). Kid is too busy drooling over the symmetry to care, but Liz and Patty say one thing that puts her over the edge. "You're going to replace Shiro with them?!"

They gasp as Aria slams them into a nearby pole, murder in her eyes. Her eyes flash ferally as she glares up at the sisters. Her voice rumbles dangerously low. _You will never say that again. Shiro was everything to me, he is irreplaceable. Understand?_ The Thompson twins nod vigorously, and slide to the ground when she releases them._ Good_, Aria purrs. Her head flips back to look at Ren and Ryu diagonally and upside down; her eyes have returned to their usual emerald. _I hope you don't regret becoming my partners. I'd understand if you cut it off._

Ren had frozen at the feral display of power; everyone else had too. His legs had started shaking when she'd spoken. He'd felt the extreme presence of primordial fear. Ryu, however, wasn't very affected. He'd noticed that the dangerous energy had been directed solely at the sisters. Aria had tried to direct the energy away from them, but some had slipped through.

He walks around his brother, who tries to grab him, and over to Aria. Her head flips back around as she turns to face him. Her eyes and ears flick back, ashamed. Ryu reaches towards her, but she flinches back, as if expecting an attack. He frowns and grabs her hand. Aria's ears and tail lift, while her eyes widen. He is smiling at her, relaxed and uncaring, but she knows that she will be hard pressed to reclaim her hand. He is acting like nothing had happened, while everyone else is stiff and wary. No one is close enough to hear their conversation, and no one wants to be close enough to hear.

Some of her hair falls forward to shadow her eyes as she looks down. She smiles softly, _Arigatou, Ryu. Thank you._ What for? You lost control for a second, but that just proves you're human. Aria shakes her head, _Only Shiro has approached me after an outburst. It would seem you've inherited his spirit, Dragon. Though, the Tiger seems frozen._ Dragon? How can you possibly compare me to a powerful creature? I can see how Ren would be a tiger though._ Besides that Ryuu means dragon, power is not everything. You have many traits associated with dragons, and a few even rarer: wisdom, the ability to separate friend from foe, honesty, trust, being able to pass unnoticed by others, and a shadowy grace I haven't seen for years._ Ryu blushes at the compliments. Aria laughs._ I never thought I would repeat those words to anyone ever again. I mean them though._ You said this to your old partner! I can't possibly be compared to someone who meant so much to you! _You can be rather daft at times, Ryu. He was my partner then, but you two are my partners now. He was very special to me, but it's a little early to think you will mean less. Loners like me always seem to find the special ones; even if they don't stay long. _ Ryu looks at her confusedly before the words sort themselves out. He pulls her into a hug that she gladly returns. I won't leave you if you won't leave me. I'll stay even if my brother won't like it.

Ren chooses this moment to regain his movement. He doesn't know what they were talking about, but that girl, Aria, is dangerous. When Ryu hugged her, his paranoia and protectiveness skyrocketed. She somehow managed to trick his brother, who was now others started moving towards Aria, taking her actions as a sign that she had calmed down. Ren moves slightly ahead of them, trying to reach his brother instead of the twins. While the other DWMA students group around Liz and Patty, Ren stands between Aria and Ryu, who have just been broken apart.

**Ryu! What on Earth did you think you were doing?! You could've been hurt!** _I think anything I say would just make it worse,_ Aria said nonchalantly. _Ryu, you'll have to explain it._ Ryu nods and turns to his brother. I want to stay with Aria. She- don't interrupt. She wasn't going to hurt anyone. She just lost control for a moment, but she said it doesn't happen often. I don't think she'd ever try to hurt anyone here. She's just lonely, and misses her friend. Ren is speechless; his twin, Ryu, Prince of Silence, talked back to him. Ryu betrayed him for a psychopath! Why couldn't he see that, that cross-breed would hurt him? Sure, Ren had liked her at first, but she had carefully hidden this aspect of herself. **You'd rather be with her than me?** He couldn't keep the hurt and accusation out of his voice. Ryu sounded distraught, but determined. I promised, Ren. I don't break my promises.

A shadow flickers over Ren's face, and a mask covers his emotions. **Then you can just stay with her. I've tried to protect you, but I can't protect you from yourself.** He glares at Aria over his shoulder.** I don't know what you did, but you can keep him. I don't need to keep traitors around.**

Everyone watches as Ren stalks off, and Ryu starts crying. He just wanted to convince Ren that Aria was good. _Don't worry, Ryu. He doesn't mean it. He's upset,and he'll come back for you when he's cooled down._ "Wow, Aria," Kid says. "You took it too far this time. You need to learn to control yourself. Until then, I'm afraid our friendship will have to be put on hold." The other girls, Liz, Patty, Tsubaki, and Maka, nod in agreement. Soul adds his thoughts,"Not cool, Aria. Not cool."BlackStar stares at her forlornly before turning to follow the others into the city, "You aren't being a big star now. The Aria I know wouldn't hurt her friends." _Maybe you don't know me very well then,_ she says softly. _Three months on your own, is a long time. Once you all left, I had nothing._

BlackStar disappears after the others, a worried look on his face. Should they have tried harder to get to Shiro and Aria? Would it have helped if they had? 'No,' he thinks, 'Nothing would have changed.' Should we have searched longer? 'She was all alone, and we didn't do anything.' When he finally catches up with the others, he is unusually quiet. The small group of friends watch him confusedly. He seems sad that they had left Aria. . . again.


	3. Chapter 3

I'm working on chapter 4 at the moment, but it should be up in a week. The room description, and house, were added by one of my "wonderful" friends. I apologize if you think the house is over the top, but the size will be necessary for later on. Also, y issue with staying in one tense; I'm trying to work on that, so if you see any problems please tell me.

Chapter 3: To, and at, Aria's House Part 1

It hadn't taken long for Aria to calm Ryu down enough to function. She needed to get him home, as the sun was setting, but she didn't know where exactly he lived. Her house wasn't too far away; he could stay there until this all blew over. That decided, she glared at the sun. Its face was too comical, a backdrop to the scene that had taken place. It was snoring softly, with drool running down its face. She would welcome the eternally crescent-shaped moon when it rose, bloody, maniacal grin and all.

_Ryu, I'm going to show you something. One, don't freak out. Two, hold on tightly. Three, don't tell anyone about this. It's probably illegal._ Ryu nods distracted, still thinking about Ren. Aria shakes her head exasperatedly, and shrugs.

She stands very still, eyes closed, hair waving with the wind. The moon begins rising behind her, casting an ethereal glow to her figure. Her hair dances in the light, creating the illusion of her namesake: the lion. Watching the miniature aurora, Ryu doesn't notice the other changes taking place. Nails sharpen, becoming claws, as her strange fangs grow. Clothes melt into fur, while a snout grows from Aria's face. Her limbs twist, and her joints flip, settling into unnatural positions. Slowly she lowers, until she stands on four paws.

Ryu remains sitting, in awe of the creature before him. Creamy, white fur colors the wolf's underbelly, while aurora-blue fur covers her back and tail. The tip of her tail and her entire lower jaw are white as well. Ebony claws click on the stone walkway as she approaches. A head the size of his chest descends to nuzzle his cheek. In all, the she-wolf is massive; about 5 feet tall, and 6 1/2 feet long, almost twice the size of the largest grey wolves. Brilliant emerald eyes watch him, waiting for a reaction.

Whoa. That is all he can manage. She'd said she was part wolf, but he'd assumed she only had the extra appendages. While he is processing the new information, Aria sits down, still towering above him, and cocks her head to the side. Ryu and Aria stare at one another for a moment. Suddenly, Ryu bursts out laughing. Aria's head rotates even further to the side; had her friend snapped? Ryu laughed even harder, Aria's head was almost 180° to the side. You. Look. Like. A puppy! He attempted to speak between fits of giggles. _A puppy! Maybe I should send you to a mental ward!_ Ryu snickered at Aria's indignant tone, before he finally managed to regain control of his body.

Ryu thought of how hilarious his brother would have found this. Then their fight, which had been momentarily forgotten, came crashing back. So . . . Where are we going? Aria thought forlornly, _'He's miserable again. I hope this feud ends soon.' I think going to my house would be the better choice._ Ryu nodded; going to his house would mean running into his brother. It would be best for them to be separate for now. How will we get there? You said before that your house was on the other side of town. It's already almost dark. _That's not far for me. You just need to hold on. I highly doubt anyone, dangerous or not, is going to mess with a 200 pound wolf._

Aria extended her forelegs, and laid down next to Ryu. The boy grabbed the loose skin from the ruff on her neck, and pulled himself up. _Hold on tight, Ryu. It's kinda like riding a horse, except without any safety gear._ Without waiting for his reply, Aria stood up. Ryu clung to the coarse fur in front of him nervously, looking at the ground beneath him. It was only a foot or two under his feet, but it seemed much further from his perch on a giant predator. His grip tightened once the wolf beneath him began to move.

Aria started out walking, letting Ryu get used to her swaying strides. When he had relaxed a bit more, she started jogging. Her gait was choppier now, but Ryu was quick to pick up the movement. She picked up speed again, not running full out, but fast enough to get home before the moon rose fully. It was getting late, and this was Ryu's first ride. They'd try for a longer run later on.

Aria's house was only half the size of Shinigami-sama's house, but the carefully hidden areas more than made up for it. She'd had a witch create connections between the house and a small pocket dimension. When strangers stopped by, the house seemed perfectly average. This helped greatly when she was reorganizing her collections. When someone she truly trusted came over, the door became a gateways to her real home. Only Shiro, the Deathscyths (Shinigami-sama's personal weapons), and Shinigami-sama himself had seen it.

Trying to prepare Ryu for the size of the pocket dimension, Aria launched into the details of the house._ It doesn't seem like much, but there's quite a bit inside. I've managed to stuff practically a whole town in there. Too bad the witch I hired for it fell fatally ill; she was the only one who could do this sort of thing. There's about 5 floors, 19 bedrooms (I used to get lots of visitors), 15 full bathrooms, an arcade, a pool in the lowest floor, a huge kitchen with everything, display rooms, an armory, and a living room. I get lost for hours sometimes. Don't look at me like that. You'll just have to see for yourself._ Aria dragged him through the gateway despite his slightly wary stance._ By the way, you're the only non-Death oriented person to see this besides Shiro._

'Aria talks about him a lot, but why does she freak out when someone else says his name,' Ryu thought. 'She definitely puts a lot of trust in me if she's showing me all this stuff.' With these thoughts and getting lost in his new house, Ryu managed to store thoughts of his brother in the back of his mind. He would have to see him later though; they had school together, and their jobs weren't too far apart. He'd have to move his things from their house too; Ren would see that as another betrayal.

Even that small slip in his thoughts had allowed Ryu to lose his guide. Aria had reverted to her human form after reaching her door. She was going to show him all the cool rooms before letting him choose a bedroom, but now she was nowhere to be found! Aria! Where'd you go? _There you are Ryu._ Okay, he hadn't been expecting that. He let out a yelp as Aria suddenly appeared, hanging upside-down from a hole in the ceiling. How'd you get up there? Aria dropped to the floor as she thought of an answer. A frown and a puzzled expression fell over her face._ You know; I'm really not sure exactly. Oh well. I guess we should get you to a room now._ Ryu just stared as she grinned and started walking away. How could she be so carefree? He ran after her as she reached a corner up ahead; it would be bad to lose her again.

A few minutes later, they had reached a very long, looping hallway with 8 rooms along each wall, and three in the center of the curve. The first 6 from either side had zodiac signs painted above them in a rainbow. (Maroon aries above the first door, orange-brown taurus above the second, yellow gemini the third, etc.) Looking inside, they all seemed to fit the color scheme of their respective symbols. Even the cancer door fit it's grey colored symbol. The other four (two on each side of the main three) also had symbols: a scratched record, a green slime ghost, a purple squiddle, and a blue dog head. In the center of all of these doors, stood Aria's room. One empty room stood on either side.

_Kid insisted that it be even, but I didn't feel like having imbeciles on either side of me, so I built more rooms. You can pick any of the rooms you like; I don't expect the previous tenants to return. If you need anything, I'll be in my room. Don't ever hesitate to ask for help, though you should probably knock first. My reflexes stay sharp in my sleep, and I wouldn't want to shishkabob you by accident._ And with that, the only other person in the house besides Ryu, himself, closed her door. Ryu was slowly becoming used to Aria's usual antics, the unusual ones having yet to surface, and so decided to look into the empty rooms. Despite the reassurances that the previous owners wouldn't return, it felt like the rooms themselves didn't want him in there.

Both of the rooms were exactly alike, albeit mirror images of each other. They were simply furnished: white walls, lightly-colored wooden floors, amber furniture, a writing desk and chair, full-sized bed, dresser and mirror, empty bookshelf, and bedside table. The walls were white, and everything was clean and clear; not even hotels were this devoid of personal touch. It was obvious that no one had used these rooms before. He decided he would take the left room, which left the right for his brother. The eerily sterile appearance of the room was starting to freak him out, so he all but ran out to tell Aria about his choice.

If the other rooms were shocking, this room was heart-stopping. The ceiling was decorated to look like the aurora; stars seemed to twinkle and flash behind glowing arcs of blue and green. It seemed impossibly high up. Stepping into the room was akin to entering a lush forest: leaves swayed above, occasionally blocking the 'sky' from view, carpet and small plants artfully arranged to look like undergrowth. Mist floated around Ryu's waist, and if he looked hard enough, he could just see something vaguely resembling a fog machine. Soft forest sounds and animal calls surrounded him, probably from hidden speakers of some sort**. **Note to self: Aria has way too much free time.

Has anyone else ever felt that; the feeling of the house or room wanting you to leave? It makes sleepovers very difficult.


End file.
